helium on the periodic table???

Question

ok~ helium~ it is located in the top, right hand corner of the periodic table, but why? any particular reason?
also, who discovered helium? i have researched it but i have come up with MANY different answers, so which is right???
also, where can i find a write up on ht ehistory of helium??

THANKS!

also, what is it used for besides deep sea diving tanks, blimps, and balloons??

Answer 1

He
Atomic Number: 2
Symbol: He
Atomic weight: 4.00260
Discovery: Janssen, 1868
Electron Configuration: 1s2
Word Origin: Greek: helios, sun
Helium was first detected as a new spectral line during a solar eclipse.
Isotopes: 7 isotopes of helium are known.
Properties: Helium is a very light, inert, colorless gas. Helium has the lowest melting point of any element. It is the only liquid that cannot be solidified by lowering the temperature. It remains liquid down to absolute zero at ordinary pressures, but can be solidified by increasing the pressure. The specific heat of helium gas is unusually high. The density of helium vapor at the normal boiling point is also very high, with the vapor expanding greatly when heated to room temperature. Although helium normally has a valence of zero, it has a weak tendency to combine with certain other elements.
Uses: Helium is widely used in cryogenic research because its boiling point is near absolute zero. It is used in the study of superconductivity, as an inert gas shield for arc welding, as a protective gas in growing silicon and germanium crystals and producing titanium and zirconium, for pressuring liquid fuel rockets, for use in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), as a cooling medium for nuclear reactors, and as a gas for supersonic wind tunnels. A mixture of helium and oxygen is used as an artificial atmosphere for divers and others working under pressure. Helium is used for filling balloons and blimps.
Sources: Except for hydrogen, helium is the most abundant element in the universe. It is an important component in the proton-proton reaction and the carbon cycle, which account for the energy of the sun and stars. Helium is extracted from natural gas. In fact, all natural gas contains at least trace quantities of helium. The fusion of hydrogen into helium is the sources of a hydrogen bomb's energy. Helium is a disintegration product of radioactive substances, so it is found in ores of uranium, radium, and other elements.

Answer 2

I expect wikipedia will have a nice helium article, else search for WebElements - periodic table on the web. Helium is used in a lot of packaging as an inert filler gas. Also it has a lot of uses in science - liquid helium is often used to chill things to 4.2 Kelvin (boiling point of He). And if you cool it further, very interesting physics happens - superfluidity, etc. With liquid helium dilution refrigerators temperatures in the milli-kelvin range can be produced.

Answer 3

Helium has a filled outer orbital with 2 electrons, so it's a noble gas.

If I had to guess, I would say Aerestotle (sp?) because Helium and Helios.

Try wikipedia for histroy

It's really light, so that's why it's used in those tanks.

Answer 4

It is a noble gas. The s orbitals in any element hold 2 electrons each. SInce helium has 2 electrons it totally fills the first orbital and becomes a noble gas because it is stable.

Answer 5

The actual isolation of helium on Earth was by both Ramsay and by Cleve and Langlet in 1895. The existence of helium in the Sun was detected by spectroscopic measurements by Janssen during an eclipse of the Sun in 1868.

Helium is located where it is in the Periodic Table because of the periodic law: The properties of the elements are periodic functions of their atomic numbers (the law used to say atomic weights). That means that as you string the elements out according to atomic numbers, you return again and again to put helium on top of neon on top of argon on top of krypton on top of xenon on top of radon.

The best write-ups are in any current edition of the "Handbook of Chemistry & Physics" and Mary Elvira Weeks, "Discovery of the Elements."

Answer 6

It's on the far right becuase it is a noble gas (its outermost shell is completly full with electrons, in helium's case......it has 2).

Answer 7

it is the second lightest element

and is a noble gas, so its on the last column